Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve: The Other Side of the Door...

The girl, dressed in very dark clothes, came forward and Mike walked up and met her in a hug. That's when it clicked in Annie and Max's heads who this girl was: the magical El.

"Is that..." Lucas and Dustin nodded, there being no need to finish the question.

While Max seemed fascinated and even someone excited to meet El, Annie couldn't help but frown. She didn't want to say she felt replaced or anything, but she did, and El was the one who replaced her. It may not have been her fault exactly, but that didn't stop Annie from feeling the way she did.

When the two let go, Mike was smiling. "I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-"

"353 days. I heard," she replied.

"Why did you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike asked, the hurt coming to his face. Annie saw that he loved her, and maybe that was why Annie no longer belonged in the Party.

"Because I wouldn't let her." Everyone moved to look from the two kids to the Chief who had spoken. Annie was so lost, she thought Steve and Dustin said El had disappeared, but she was with the Chief?

The Chief walked forward and had his moment with El. "The hell is this, where've you been?" he asked, pissed off. Even though this was private, no one moved or said anything- they just watched.

"Where have you been?" she fired back, and Max rose an eyebrow. She felt like she could get along with this girl.

The Chief pulled El into a hug and Mike had realization come onto his face. "You've been hiding her," he concluded. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" He pushed the Chief who turned quickly and grabbed him.

"Hey! Let's talk. Alone." The Chief practically dragged Mike off into a different room for their talk. As they went into the room, Annie heard Mike yelling before the door shut and muffled their voices.

But here came the awkward part, where they all were left with El. Annie certainly felt awkward in this moment. The others didn't feel that way as much as she did, though. Lucas and Dustin barely waited before they hurried forward and pulled El into a hug. Annie let Max go and stepped backwards, away from the reunion and meet-and-greet.

Steve made his way over to Annie and pulled her into a side hug, making sure to move the bat to the side. "You okay?" he asked, low so the others wouldn't stare and make her uncomfortable.

She nodded. "Yeah, but this still isn't over, so I can't promise I'll be okay for long," she replied. He frowned, knowing she was right and knew this wasn't going to stop for a while.

They watched El poke Dustin's teeth. "You have teeth," El explained to a very confused Dustin.

"Oh. You like these pearls?" He made a strange purr noise after that caused Annie's face to scrunch up, weirded out. El looked lost by the noise and Lucas just shook his head.

"Eleven?" Annie watched Max walk up towards El, in between the boys. She could see Max meant well, but she also saw the hostility in El's face. "Hey, um, I'm Max." She stuck her hand out to shake. "I've heard a lot about you."

Instead of doing that, however, El moved past her and went to Mrs. Byers instead. Annie saw Max looking kind of saddened by the move and decided to come up to her. Placing a hand on her shoulder, she said, "That was kind of rough, but from what I've heard, she may need time."

Max nodded. "Yeah, you're right." They decided not to say anything else, but instead watch as El entered Will's room, then came back out to see the message Will gave in morse code. Everyone carefully came up and tried to see what the planning was.